Apparatus for desiccating liquids.



c. E. GRAY & AgJBNsEN. APPARATUS POR DESIGCATING LIQUIDS.

APPLICATION FILED DBO. 27, 1911.

I Patented N0v.18,1913.

NYA? @D alo u TED sTATEs PATENT ori-non.

CHESTER E. GRAY,IOF EUREKA, AND AAGE JENSEN, 0F OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

arranaru's ron DasrccATINc marinas.

Specification Aof Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 1s, 191e.

Application filed December 27, 1911. Serial No. 688,182.

provements in Apparatus for Desiccating Liquids; and we do hereby declare the followin to be a'full, clear, and exact de scriptlon of the same, reference being had toV the accompanying drawings, forming part of this s ecilication, 'and to the figures and letters o reference marked-thereon.

-This invention relates to apparatus for removing the solid constitutents of liquids in which they areheld by suspension or solution, and is more especially designed for the production of milk powder which shall embody all of the solid constituents of milk, in such form that they may be redissolved in water for the reproduction of milk having the'physical and chemical characteristics of the original milk, prior to its treatl ment. y

In accordance with the present invention, and contr-ary to present practice in the commercial productlon of powdered milk, the milk is atomized and caused to travel from a cooler into and through a hotter zone of air Which'vaporizes and carries oif the moisture content, the movement of the atomized material being secured by centrifugal force created by air currents moving in a circular path and having the hottest zone on the ex.

terior. The apparatus may, therefore,`be said to embody generally a chamber 1n which a Cyclonic current of heated air is created, withmeans whereby the liquid is atomized in the vortex or at a point remote from the sidewalls, and thev particles of atomized material caused to travel, by the centrifugal actio'n created by the air currents, outwardly through the currents until arrested by the confining walls and directed 1 thereby to as'uitable discharge.

y Referring to the accompanying' drnwings,--Figure 1 is a diagrammatic sectional view through an apparatus embodyin the present improvements', 'noattempt ing made to' preserve the proportions o'f the parts, inasmuch as the proportions vmay be.: varied within wide limits, depend-lng largely upon the desired capacityTI of the apparatus;

Vcertain of the parte are shown on-an abnorl 2 mal scale, inasmuch as in the apparatus they are relatively small and could not be illustrated clearly if in Iproper proportion for a commercial apparatus. Fig. 2 isa sectional view substantially in the horizontal plane indicated .by the line 22 of Fig. 1. Like letters of reference in both figures indicate the same parts.

In said drawings, the letter A indicates an air pump, which, as shown, may be of the centrifugal type and adapted to force a large volume of air through a conduit B Within which there is arranged air'heating means, such, for instance, as the manifold B', through which steam may be circulated from 'anysuitable source. The conduit B discharges into the upper end of a large chamber, preferably formed at the upper end with a substantially cylindrical wall C' and with 'a downwardly ta ering or conical lower portion C. terminatlng at the lower end in a discharge duct for the solid constituents, as will be presently described. The air is discharged rom the conduit B int-o the upper portion of the desiccating -chamber C in a tangential direction and preferably through a series of ,vertically elongated openings c, Fig. 2, which may be conveniently formed in the inner walljof a gradually7 converging continuation I) of the conduit B As` shown in Fig. 2, the inner wall of the convergin continuation of the conduit B is provide with a series of in- Wardly turned projections b forming the inner edges of the entrance apertures c, whereb each of the entering streams of air is directed tangentially into the desiccating chamber, in order to produce a substantially uniform air pressure around the wholel periphery ofthe said chamber, and with a regular and uniform cyclonic or rotary movement. The air discharges from the desiccating chamber at the center of the top and is led away through a duct or con-- duit D. The atomizin or nebulizing nozzle E is arranged to ischarge at substantiall the center of the cylindrical portion of the chamber pre-ferablyin a downward and outward direction, or in a direction.- contrary to the upward direction of move'- ment of the central column of air toward the air discharge duct D.' l

In operation it is found that with this construction of apparatus the highest teinperature 4exists in proximity to the peripheral walls of the desiccating chamber, while the temperature at the center is very much lower. The atomized particles of the liquid to be desiccated are caused to travel by centrifugal action outwardly through the successively hotter portions of the whirling body of air by centrifugal force, and, therefore, in their progress from the nozzle they are subjected to gradually increasing heat and are finally arrested in their outward movement by the walls of-the chamber in a completely dried and' desiccated condition, in which condition they may be readily discharged from the apparatus by being allowed to flow downwardly by gravity into the lower' portion of the chamber and out through a contracted discharge opening I" into a suitable receiver F', connection with which may be established by canvas or other iexible conduit f. The lower portion of the desiccating chamber is preferably made separable, as at 2, to facilitate cleaning of the interior of the chamber, and in order to insure dislodgment of any particles which may adhere to the sidewalls of the chamber, a

suitable traveling'brush G is provided which, v as illustrated, is supported by a carriage G c provided with an intermediate vane .Gtupon i as which the air currents may act for driving the carriage around the chamber whenever the apparatus is in operation.

The liquid milk is supplied to the atomizing nozzle EA through a pipe e communicating with a high pressure pump E driven from any suitable source of power and designed not only to maintain a high and uniform pressure, butto deliver a quantity of milk in excess of that -which can be discharged through the nozzle, the arrangement being such that the excess may be returned to the intake side of the -pump through a suitable valve controlled by-pass and by observation of ay pressure gage E2,

the by-pass valve may be regulated to insureA a uniform pressure at the atomizing nozzle under all conditions of operation. The milk is suppliedinitially from a tank'H through a pipe, h, which leads through connections, to be presently described, to the pump, said pipe having a regulating valve it therein, and the by-pass indicated at I and having a regulating valve i therein leadsup and discharges into a funnel or branch connection I communicating with the pipe z. The funnel lbranch I of the pipe h is preferably `the pipe h and the discharge from the veslocated above the normal liquid level of the tank H, and the discharge from the by-pass I is4 above the funnel, whereby the How through the by-pass may be observed at all times, this beingl desirable in order to permit of a proper regulation of the apparatus, and in order to be sure that the apparatus is operating properly.

The milk supplied to the pump E is preferably preliminarily heated, and this may be primarily accomplished by leading the pipe. h to a heater K, preferably consisting of a vessel having a steamjacket c and an internal rotary drum la arranged centrally and serving to occupy a large proportion of the space within the vessel, whereby a comparatively thin layer of milk is uniformly eX- posed or brought into intimate contact with the heated vessel wall, the point of entry of sel being at opposite ends. In the discharge pipe h2 from the `heater there is arranged a thermometer ha for observing the temperature of the milk, and while the pipe h2 may lead directly* to the intake of the pump E', it preferably passes through a preliminary rotary or centrifugal pump L, and thence through pipe h4 to the pump, there being a by-pass connection between the pipe 71,4 and the pipe h, which permits of a certain portion of the milk being heated bythe air .scaping from the desiccating chamber.l

The air escaping from the desiccating- -chamber, itis found in practice, is not loaded with moisture to its capacity at the temperature at which it escapes,`and in order to prevent any loss through this source, the said air is caused to circulate in a second chamber M into which it discharges tangentially and from which it escapes centrally so as to set up a cyclonic action, and in this second chamber M there is arranged a spraying mechanism in communication with the bye-pass from the pipe h4. The by-pass is indicated in the drawing by the reference letter m, and it will be seen that it leads up into the chamber M and discharges therein through a vertically arranged spray pipe M and a horizontally arranged spray pipe M2, the latter being mounted to rotate on thef upper end of the pipe M and having its jet orifices directed upwardly and transversely, whereby the jets of milk will bel projected against the upper surfaceof the chamber M and will, by their reaction in escaping from the jets, cause a rotary movement of the' pipe M2. From the conical bottom of the chamber M a discharge m leads down and is in communication with the pipe h leading from the tank to` the heater, whereby the liquid sprayed into the chamber M is returned to the su ply pipe and is again circulated through t e heater and either to the pump or back to the chamber M. A gage pipe as well verse vtubes E;

i rom the duct O passes, the ar-f. i5 rangement being such that said air 1s caused and serves to indicate the liquid level in saidV as inthe by-passinlet l and tank H. v y n In order to conserve the heat which might be lost through the free discharge of the moist-ure laden air from the chamberM and d'esiccating chamber the said air is prefera duct'O to, a heater for the incoming air, and is thus used regeneratively. This heater may, as-shown in stituent solids of'liquids, embodying a desic` Veating chamber having side walls convergltoward-the bottom, means for introduc-4 ing. heatedair tangentially into theupper the drawing, consist of a conduit P leading to thefan' A and'having a series oftranstherein through whichthe escaping air r3to travel through the'ducts in succession 1n heater. Thev high pressure pump .'E and pressure regulatingsvalve arefso controlledv a direction reverse to that of the flow of air in the conduit, around' the pipes `and linallyesca'pes at O. This arrangementv of regenerative heater, it, is obvious, may be, in accordance with any known form of such apparatus, although the formillustrated is -pe f mote from the walls offzthe' chamber, wherevby the atomized material is forced to .traverse' the air currents before coming in contact .withthe walls of the chamber.

preferred.

Fori observation. during the operation -of the apparatus, thennometers are preferably located at convenient points, as, for instance, in the bottom of the desiccating chamber, where -a recording thermometeryR is shown in Fig. 1, and by observation of which the proper yregulation of the 'quantity of milk being atomized into. the chambermay be .readily determined and the heat regulated so-that there can be lno injury to the dried,

produc In operation, power .is supplied for operating the fan, pumps and drum'in' the milk that the milkis delivered under extremely high pressure from the vaporizing nozzle.l Progressively as the vapori'zed product travels outwardly from the vortex of the i air in the desiccating chamber it is .relieved ofits moisturecontent and'travels into zones of air which are of higher and higher temperature, inasmuch as practice shows that vthe highest temperature of the air in the desiccating chamber isat the'periphery and that said temperature progressively. de-

creasestowardthe vortex and exit.

vHavingl thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire'to secure by Letf ters Patent of the United Stat/es, is 1 1. An apparatus for recovering .the constituent solids of liquids, 'embodying a desiccatingchamber having a converging bottom with a discharge thereinvfor -desiccated material, means `for Iintroducing .heated air tangentiall'y into said chamber yand withdrawing the saine centrally whereby cyclonic currents are'. set up in the chamber," and meansffqr atomizing the liquid into the chamber at a point remote-from itsl sidel fwalls and in proximity tothe air exit. c

2.v An apparatus for removing the constit- .lient lsolids' of liquids, embodying a desiccating chamber, means for introducing heated air tangentially into said lchamber and withdrawing the same centrally, where-v b cyclonic currents ofsair are set up inthe c amber, and means for a'tomizihg the liquid into the vortex inproximity to and in a chamber. Y

3'. An vapparatus for recovering :the conortion of said chamber and for withdrawingthe air centrally from the upper portion `of thezchamber, whereby cyclonic currents are set up .in the chamber, .a 4discharge duct for the Icollected solid material at the bottom of the chamber, and a downwardly di'- rected atomizing nozzle ,located in the uprv portion of thechamber at a point re- 4; AAn Vapparatus for vrecovering the constituent solids of liquids, embodying a desiceating chamber having a circularly disposed air duct at its upper end with tangentially arranged air inlet openings between said duct and chamber, means for forcing heated duct arranged centrally ofthe upper portion of the chamber,

l duct for the solidmatterat the bottom of the 'rection `away from the airV exit fromv the aoy -airinto saidduct and chamber whereby cyclonic currents are set up in the chamber, an

chamber, and .means for atomizing liquid into the upper portion of thechamber.

5. An apparatus for recovering the constituent solids of liquidsembodying a desiecating chamber having tangentially arranged air inlets anda centrally arranged and a .discharge for air discharge atthe top the solid' matter at the bottom, an air heating means in communication with the tanential air inlets, an atomizing nozzle with-v 1n the chamber lbelowthe air discharge and remote from the side walls ofthe chamber,

and movable means within the chamber'for dislodging accumulations of material on the' walls.

6.'An apparatus for recoveringthe conwithin the chamber for dislodging accumw flations on thel walls of the chamber. v

7. In an apparatus for recovering the constituent solids of liquid in the formof a dry powder, the combinationwith a desiccating i stituentsolids of liquids, embodying a desic# `troducing atomized liquid into the chamber chamber, means-forintroducing heated air tangentially therein, whereby cyclonic currents are set up in thechamber, a second chamber, and a discharge duct leading from the first mentioned chamberand discharging tangentially intosaid second chamber, of means forspraying liquid-into said second chamber, and means for atomizing the sprayed liquid in the first mentioned chamber and for withdrawing the collected solid constituents of the liquid.

8. In an apparatus for recovern'gthe con-V stitue-nt solids of liquids in the form of a dry powder, the' combination with a desiccating chamber having air entrance and exit openings arrangedto ,produce Cyclonic currents within the chamber, an air forcing and heating `means in communication wlth the air inlet openings of the chamber, and an atomizing .nozzle for the liquidsarranged within the chamber and remote from its side walls, of a second chamber having a -tangentially arranged air inlet opening-in communication with the discharge from the irst mentioned chamber, means for spraying liquid into saidsecond chamber, and means for conveying the sprayed `liquid from said second chamber to the said atomizing nozzle;

9. In an apparatus for recovering the constltuent solids of liquids in the form of a` dry powder, the combination of `a conical desiccating chamber having tangentially arrange-d air inlets at the top with a central .air discharge at the top andfa vdischarge'for the -solid matter vat the bottom, an atomizing nozzle within and remote from the side Walls of the chamber, and an air forcing and heating means in communication with -the air inlet openings.

10. In an -apparatus for recovering the constituent solids of liquids in the form of a dry powder, the combination wit-h a desice eating chamber having a tangential air inlet, an atomizing nozzle within said chamber in proximity to the air exit, and air forcing atomizing means.

and heating means communicating with the chamber, of an air vdischarge duct leading from the center of the chamber, and an air"4 charged, a liquid spraying device in saidv vsecond chamber, a liquid'lieater in communiv cation with. said s raying device, whereby the sprayed liquid 1s heated to prevent condensation of the Imoisture il; the air discharged fromthe desiccati 0' chamber, and a. Y duct for conducting the sprayed liquid to the l2. In an lapparatusl for/recovering the constituentsolids of 'liquids'in the form of a dry powder, the combination with a conical desiccating chamber having a discharge at the bottom for the so1id\materi al, and a central discharge at the tpp for the moisture laden air, an airsupplyduct of gradually decreasing area ex'tendig'around the upper v portion vof thechamber and having a plurality of tangent-ially arranged air inlet open# ings, of means for supplying heated air `unvso der pressure'to `said duct, van atomizing nozy zlearranged within the'chamber, and means for .supplying liquid to said atomizing nozzlesub'stantially as described.

AAGE JENSEN. Witnesses: l M. Encinas,

CHESTER E; GRAY. Y 

